The Nuggets guard, who came into training camp late, admits he needs a little more time to get that edge back. He played in his first preseason game Thursday night, a 110-85 win over the Phoenix Suns, and the rust was evident.

“First night in a while, I never make excuses, but I’ve been out since last season in terms of competitive basketball,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of drills, but I couldn’t risk competing in the offseason, so that was my first time ever competing in about eight months. Felt good, though. I think we did well as a team.”

In 17 minutes of play, Afflalo scored four points on 1-for-6 shooting, had three turnovers and four rebounds.

“The edge that he has is he doesn’t make many mistakes, and I thought tonight he was forcing plays,” coach George Karl said. “He probably doesn’t know the offense as well as he needs to know it. It’s going to take some time to get his body and his mind at an NBA level.

“But he’s a hard worker, he’s a committed guy. He’s just going to have to keep going to work every day, and hopefully he keeps moving in a positive direction.”

Even with a short bench and playing an uneven game at times, the Nuggets seemed a couple of steps ahead of the Suns.

The Nuggets were set back a little when both Nene and Afflalo signed late, then there were injuries to Nene (hamstring) and Ty Lawson (sprained ankle), and neither played against the Suns. Karl is unsure to what extent Nene will be able to participate in the next three practices.

Karl held out forward Al Harrington and guard Rudy Fernandez, although he said both could have played. But it wasn’t an off night for Harrington or Lawson — they both took turns sitting in on the Denver radio flagship station to offer analysis.

Danilo Gallinari led all scorers with 23 points, and Corey Brewer added 20. Andre Miller dished out 10 assists, and Kosta Koufos had 11 rebounds, both game highs.

“Brewer had a big game, and Gallinari was the best player on the court for a period of time,” he said. “I can’t take much credit; the players figured it out in a lot of ways.”

Now with the preseason over — both the Nuggets’ wins have come over the Suns — Karl is hoping his team’s depth will be a key factor when the regular season opens.

“The only thing I know that I feel is going to happen is there’s going to be some teams that people don’t think are going to be very good are going to be good, and there are going to be some teams that people think are going to be really good (that) I think are going to stub their toes and falter,” he said.

More in News

With his choice of restaurant executive Andrew Puzder to serve as his Labor secretary, President-elect Donald Trump has now tapped six big donors and fundraisers to serve in his administration, lining up an unprecedented concentration of wealthy backers for top posts.

Last month, Denver’s Department of Safety fired a deputy sheriff for using racial slurs and harassing inmates and a police sergeant for drinking while in uniform and abandoning a post to have sex with a woman.